What Is Conversational Commerce? How Chatbots Decide Which Businesses Get Seen

Not long ago, finding a business or a product online usually meant typing a question into Google, opening a few links, skimming some websites, and slowly working your way toward a decision.

That’s no longer the only path people take. Today, more and more customers skip the tabs and go straight to a chatbot. They don’t just ask a single question, they have full conversations about what they’re looking for, explore details, compare options, and narrow things down in real time.

Data shows that more than half of consumers (54%) say they would use a chatbot to ask about products, while 34% have already used one to learn about or even purchase something. For many, chatbots are part of the decision-making process: 44% of consumers say they appreciate chatbots helping them find product information before buying.*

This shift has a name: conversational commerce.

It’s the growing habit of discovering, comparing, and choosing products or services through conversations with chatbots and AI assistants instead of traditional search and browsing. And it’s not a small or passing trend. The global conversational AI market is expected to grow from $12.24 billion in 2024 to nearly $62 billion by 2032, reflecting how quickly these tools are becoming part of everyday buying behavior.

What is conversational commerce?

Conversational commerce is when people use chat-based tools to research, compare, or decide what to buy. Instead of searching and scrolling, they talk.

This can look different depending on the situation. Someone might ask an AI assistant for recommendations, message a business on WhatsApp or Instagram to get quick answers, or use a voice assistant to find a product or service nearby. The format changes, but the behavior is the same.

What matters isn’t the tool itself, but the behavior behind it. People are making decisions inside conversations. And more often than not, those conversations end with a name and a decision to buy, or to move on.

How this changes the way people find businesses

Traditional online search gives people plenty of options., but conversational tools don’t.

When someone asks a chatbot for advice, they’re rarely shown dozens of results. More often, they get one suggestion, a short list, or a simple explanation of what usually works in that situation.

There’s less comparing, less browsing, and decisions happen faster. People tend to trust the answer they’re given and move on.

For businesses, this changes what visibility looks like. Being mentioned at all can matter more than ranking somewhere on page two of search results, because in a conversation, there may not be a page two.

Why some businesses get mentioned, and others don’t

Chatbots don’t browse the internet as humans do, and they don’t promote businesses because they’re paid to. Instead, they rely on patterns in public information: how a company describes itself, how often it’s mentioned elsewhere, and how clearly its purpose comes through.

When a chatbot names a brand, it’s usually because that brand is easy to understand and closely linked to a specific need.

Businesses are more likely to show up in chatbot answers when it’s obvious what problem they solve, when their name and description are consistent across platforms, and when others already talk about them — in articles, reviews, or practical guides. Serving a specific audience also helps. A business that tries to be for “everyone” is harder to recommend than one that knows exactly who it’s for.

That’s why a description like “a modern solution for growth-focused teams” is difficult to surface in a conversation, while “accounting software for freelancers in Denmark” travels much further.

Related:

How to increase the chances that chatbots mention your business

There’s no button to press and no trick to follow, but there is work that pays off over time.

If someone asked you, “What do you do?”, could you answer in one simple sentence, without buzzwords or marketing language? That same sentence should show up, more or less unchanged, on your website, social profiles, business listings, and articles. When your description shifts from place to place, it becomes harder to understand what you actually offer.

To make your business easier to understand and recommend, focus on a few fundamentals:

Describe what you do in plain language. Say what problem you solve and who it’s for, without marketing phrases or vague claims.
Be consistent across platforms. Using the same business name, the same service descriptions, and the same tone across platforms makes it easier for both people and machines to follow who you are and what you do.
Answer real questions people ask. Create content that answers real questions people already ask, without trying to sound impressive.
Be specific about your audience. A business that serves “everyone” is harder to recommend than one with a clear niche.
Avoid chasing AI tricks. Forced keywords and awkward phrasing don’t help anyone understand you better.

The goal isn’t to impress chatbots, but to make it easier for machines to understand how humans already talk about you.

When your business is easy to explain, it becomes easier to recommend — whether that recommendation comes from a person or a chatbot.

A chatbot mentioned your business. What’s next?

When customers discover your business through conversations — whether with a chatbot, an AI assistant, or a messaging app — your online presence, accounts, and data become part of that decision-making moment. If your website is compromised, your email is hijacked, or your brand is impersonated, it affects whether your business is trusted, mentioned, or avoided altogether.

Protect your business with Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security, a solution designed for very small businesses that don’t have time to monitor every threat, but need strong protection.

Try it for free for 30 days.

*source: www.itransition.com